Re[2]: [at-l] Maine land prices

[Bob C." <ellen@clinic.net (Bob C.)]

There  is  not  a  government  in the world that does not reserve for itself the
right  to take private land for what it perceives is the common good. Frankly, I
find  it hard to imagine a society that could function without giving government
this right.

Probably humans first formed governments to regulate the distribution and use of
land.  It  is  a  role that continues to this day and will continue until humans
finally are eliminated from this earth.

Several  European Kings proclaimed their ownership of the lands that we now call
North  America.  After  numerous  wars  among themselves -- wars in which nary a
king,  but  numerous  land  users  died -- we gradually evolved into the present
stand off.

Perhaps  12-step  could  explain  how  a  half millennia of wars, destruction of
native  peoples,  and  exercise  of  sheer  government  power somehow created an
absolute right of untouchable private property rights.

I agree a wise government needs to use its powers carefully. But I have no doubt
that the power is needed and it's use for creating roads and trails and parks is
appropriate.

Weary